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Holy ground wholly shared

While mentally sifting through Easter memories, I stumbled across an event that’s been gathering dust for more than 50 years.

Following the thread of that discovery, my conclusion is that the western corner of the Terrace Drive and West 7th Street intersection is historically ecumenical real estate.

To ground my theory, I turned to Brother Noah Webster’s dictionary. His second definition of ecumenism is: the principles or practice of promoting cooperation or better understanding among differing religious faiths.

As to the “facts” I’ll use to build my case? They are highly unreliable, since I’m no historian. But with that disclaimer, here, filtered through time and memory, is the story:

When I was in 8th grade, for reasons that are irrelevant herein, I finished the academic year as a student at the local Catholic school.

At the time, St. Dominic Catholic Church and the school by that name were both located on the corner of Terrace Drive and West 7th. The school’s classes were conducted in rooms of a house that faced West 7th; it may have also been the rectory.

The church building, which faced Terrace Drive, was behind the school/residence toward the left. I was excused from attending the students’ daily morning mass in the church, so I don’t remember much about its interior.

Two nuns were our teachers. They were always dressed in floor-length black habits, clunky black shoes, and the traditional hair-covering headgear. The one I remember is Sister Josephine. She must’ve made a lasting impression with her kindness, for I recall taking her flowers from our garden during the summer. That contact, however, gradually faded after I reentered public school the next year.

The Hirsbrunners, a Jewish family, lived next door to St. Dominic’s. Maybe there was construction going on — who knows? But for whatever reason, the students at the Catholic school were not going to be able to have their annual Easter egg hunt on the church/school grounds.

When Mrs. Hirsbrunner learned of this pending tragedy, she intervened. As a result, on the appointed day, the back yard of a Jewish home was full of Catholic children and one Cumberland Presbyterian 8th grader, all gleefully hiding or finding Easter eggs.

Fast-forward a number of years. The Catholic school has closed long since, but a new Catholic church, facing West 7th, has been built on the site of the rectory where I attended 8th grade; the name is changed to St. Catherine’s.

Fast-forward again, and St. Catherine’s growing congregation is in the process of building a new, much larger church building on Cayce Lane. The time comes to put the existing West 7th Street site up for sale. A Baptist congregation that’s looking for a home is interested. Soon, the deal is sealed.

Since I don’t have the details, let’s assume that construction on the Cayce Lane building is lagging behind schedule. Whatever the actual cause, at the time West End Baptist needed their new facilities, the Catholic congregation still had nowhere to go.

Saints be praised, the two religious groups, which typically worship in very differently adorned sanctuaries, worked out a way to share the West 7th building. They both had Sunday morning services there, with the Catholics being the earlier of the two.

Word has it that the cooperation was so sincere that, one Sunday when the Baptist pastor was sick, St. Catherine’s Father Bob Rousser filled in for him.

These two examples of ecumenism were separated by nearly half a century. But looking back, both the relocated Easter egg hunt and the shared sanctuary still paint tableaus of a peace on earth that transcends differences.

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